Gateway City Church St. Charles
The Gateway City Church has held services at its original location near St. Louis Lambert International Airport for 40 years, but as more and more congregation members moved out west, it was time to expand.
That was two years ago and since then the church has also operated a congregation in St. Peters, just across the Missouri River.
The congregation prioritizes a welcoming atmosphere and offers childcare for young families during services, as well as its Gateway Middle School Ministry for sixth through eighth graders and the Gateway Teens Youth Group for young adult members.
Between all these different groups, and other community events hosted at the church, an open gathering space was a necessity.
The new church was flourishing, but there was still work to be done.
The Challenge
Their new location had plenty of space for services and community gatherings, but the roughly 1,500 square foot Fellowship Hall’s construction created unforeseen issues for the congregation.
“Everything was hardscape architecture, and it was so loud during gatherings it was hard to have conversations, and so we knew something needed to be addressed,” said Pastor Ron Hammer.
Without any interior walls or objects to dampen the movement of sound in the large space, paired with the eight-foot ceilings, the Fellowship hall was far too reverberant to adequately host the gatherings the church needed.
Spaces like the Fellowship Hall are reverberant because hardscape walls, ceilings and floors, paired with wide-open space, have nothing to dampen sound waves, so they continue to travel throughout the space creating echoes.
“We’d have a few dinners up there, and you couldn’t even hear the person across the table from you,” said Senior Solutions Designer and Congregation Member Jim Trautman. “If there was music playing, you couldn’t even tell what song it was.”
Trautman knew a solution was needed, and he knew Tech Electronics and Acoustical Fulfillment could get the job done.
The Solution
Trautman and Acoustical Fulfillment moved forward taking precise measurements of the room and recording what materials had been used to construct it.
From there, they laid out the design that would best improve the resonance in the room, with 54 acoustic panels mounted on the walls around the Fellowship Hall.
“I went through the room and did a test where I would clap and record a video,” said Trautman. “The decay time was about three to four seconds I could still hear the echo audibly before the sound treatment.”
He said since then the decay time had decreased to roughly one second, ideal for the space so it can be used for gatherings, but not so much that it deadens the room like a music studio.
Hammer was pleased with the performance and said since the installation they have had several gatherings of 30-40 in the Fellowship Hall without issue.
“(Tech), they’re just a professional company. They’re here, reliable, they use the right equipment, and you get good answers,” said Hammer. “It’s the kind of company you want to work with.”
For more information on how Tech can bring professional sound management and AV technology to your event space, contact us to speak to one of our experts.
Need an acoustic solution for your event space?
